**SPOILERS BELOW**First, let me start by saying I finished this book yesterday, embarrassingly in front of my boyfriend while he was playing a game. I wept like a child. I barely ever cry. I didn't cry when my dog died when I was 16, I don't cry at funerals, and I didn't even cry when my last boyfriend dumped me after 4 years. This book turned me into a fountain of salty tears and used kleenex. This morning in the shower I did a recap of this book and started to cry. How pathetic is that? Pretty pathetic, but it makes my point, none-the-less.
I loved this book. I love books that make me feel something, and this one definitely struck a nerve. I might add more to this review later but I had to put down a few immediate thoughts first.
---
This book was quirky, smart, and extremely fun. I fell in love with the characters, and their imperfections. I imaged myself doing things at the age of 16/17 the same as these kids do. Having a pack a cigarettes because it's metaphorical would've seemed like an uber cool thing to do at that age.
The characters were so witty and the dialogue was perfect (IMO). I loved how human they felt, along with their mistakes and their arrogance.
When I found out that Augustus was going to die I was heartbroken. I felt Hazel Grace's heart break.
One of my favorite parts of the book was when Augustus started to become more and more vulnerable (as sick as that sounds). When he had this breakdown in the gas station because he wanted to do something for himself, like buy himself a pack of cigarettes, and he chanted how he hated himself and wanted to die.. I think that was the most human and appropriate reaction. I liked how his composure was lost and his personal I felt he played was whittled down to nothing.
About the love story... here is a quote which I'm sure is everyone's favorite quote in the book, but I feel like it pretty much sums up how I felt about this book.
“I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”